中国核心通货膨胀的估计

准确地测度通货膨胀是认识一般价格水平的变化状况和制定反通货膨胀政策措施的基础。然而,现在被广泛用来测度通货膨胀的RPI或CPI及其对它的改进与通货膨胀的经济内容不一致。这就使得在这些方法下测度的通货膨胀不可能准确地反映实际通货膨胀的状况。于是,本文依据货币数量论提出了一种利用长期识别限制的结构性向量自回归模型来测度核心通货膨胀的新方法。在这个方法里,核心通货膨胀被定义为货币冲击引起的一般价格水平的变化。从向量自回归模型中识别出来的货币冲击和一般价格水平对货币冲击的反应函数被用来构造RPI或CPI变化率由货币冲击引起的成分,这样测度的核心通货膨胀与货币主义理论下通货膨胀的经济内容完全一致。用这种方法估计1954-2002年间中国核心通货膨胀过程中所提供的经济证据表明,我们对核心通货膨胀的定义和估计方法看起来非常合理。而且,测度的结果还能够帮助我们认识我国历史上每一次通货膨胀和通货紧缩的形成机制。     

American repatriate employees' retrospective assessments of the effects of cross-cultural training on their adaptation to international assignments

With 10 to 50 per cent of expatriates curtailing their assignments early, and the cost of foreign placement estimated at $500,000, training for expatriates needs to be improved. This study investigates different methods of training, and the results as perceived by repatriates. Repatriates were asked about the amount and type of cross-cultural training they had received and their effectiveness and productivity during the overseas assignment. Repatriates' responses included specific comments about their individual and familial experiences. It was hypothesized that managers who receive rigorous cross-cultural training before and during the assignment will not suffer intense culture shock and will become effective more rapidly than managers who have not had cross-cultural training. The results demonstrated that integrated cross-cultural training does reduce the time necessary to adjust and to achieve cultural proficiency and reduces the time necessary to become effective and productive in the assignment.     

Stock market co-movements: Islamic versus conventional equity indices with multi-timescales analysis

This study examines market co-movements in Islamic and mainstream equity markets across different regions in order to discover contagion during 9 major crises and to measure integration between markets. Using wavelet decomposition to unveil the multi-horizon nature of co-movement, we find that the shocks were transmitted via excessive linkages, while the recent subprime crisis reveals fundamentals-based contagion. While Islamic markets show traces of reduced exposure to the recent crisis owing to low leverage effect, their less diversified portfolio nature increases vulnerability to other crises. We generally find incomplete market integration, with relatively higher fundamental integration for Islamic markets which may be attributable to their real sector allocation nature.     

MEASURING MACROECONOMIC INSTABILITY: A CRITICAL SURVEY ILLUSTRATED WITH EXPORTS SERIES

For at least 40 years, the analysis of the causes and consequences of macroeconomic instability has greatly deepened our understanding of the handicaps faced by developing countries. This concern on economic instability is evidenced by a broad spectrum of indicators, based on the deviation of observed values of a given economic aggregate from its reference or trend value. In general, the choice of this or that indicator is not discussed advocating that the resulting instability indicators are closely correlated. Focusing on measurements of instability in export revenue data for 134 countries from 1970 to 2005, this paper finds that this assertion may be true for variance‐based indicators, measuring the average magnitude of deviations from the trend. However, great discrepancies may arise between different measures of the asymmetry or of the occurrence of extreme deviations around the trend when different trend computation methods are used. Our purpose is, therefore, to invite further discussions regarding the use of these indicators, and to highlight the different dimensions of instability, which have been so far unheeded by the economic literature.     

Unemployment and the economics of gradualist policy reform

This paper investigates the efficiency of adjustment to economic reform programs when the cost of adjustment arises from high unemployment that can be generated as contracting sectors shrink faster than expanding sectors grow. Under plausible assumptions on the adjustment process, the speed of adjustment to “shock therapy” reforms is shown to be excessively rapid, and the rate of unemployment to be excessively high during the transition to the new equilibrium. The authorities can improve the efficiency of the adjustment by removing the distortion gradually, rather than abruptly. Gradualism has beneficial income distributional, as well as efficiency properties, because it improves welfare of the unemployed, who are necessarily the least advantaged social group in this model.     

Is the exchange rate a shock absorber or a source of shocks? Evidence from the U.S.

We examine the stabilization role of the exchange rate in the U.S. economy using a factor augmented vector autoregression model. We find that exchange rate shock explains a large fraction of the variation in exchange rate and transmits major disturbances to the real economy. Further, we find that demand and supply shocks explain less than a quarter of the exchange rate movement. We provide robust evidence that although the exchange rate plays some role as a shock absorber, its role as an independent source of shocks is more dominant for the U.S. economy. The foreign exchange market breeds its own shocks which are destabilizing not only to the value of the dollar but to the overall economy as well. Our results suggest that policymakers need to take foreign exchange market fluctuations into account when making macroeconomic policy decisions.     

Analysis of shock transmissions to a small open emerging economy using a SVARMA model

Using a parsimonious structural vector autoregressive moving average (SVARMA) model, we analyse the transmission of foreign and domestic shocks to a small open emerging economy under different policy regimes. Narrower confidence bands around the SVARMA responses compared to the SVAR responses, advocate the suitability of this framework for analysing the propagation of economic shocks over time. Malaysia is an interesting small open economy that has experienced an ongoing process of economic transition and development. The Malaysian government imposed exchange rate and capital control measures following the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Historical decomposition and variance decomposition allow contrast of shocks propagating under different policy regimes. Malaysia is highly exposed to foreign shocks, particularly under the managed float exchange rate system. During the pegged exchange rate period, Malaysian monetary policymakers experienced some breathing space to focus on maintaining price and output stability. In the post-pegged period, Malaysia's exposure to foreign shocks increased and in recent times are largely driven by world commodity price and global activity shocks.     

金融冲击、去杠杆与中国宏观经济波动

去杠杆是我国供给侧结构性改革的重要任务之一,而平稳有序地去杠杆是防范化解金融风险的关键:本文通过梳理我国在2016年前后的经济数据,刻画了去杠杆进程中我国宏观经济存在的“扩张—收缩”波动特征。基于此现实,本文在金融加速器理论基础上构建金融经济周期模型,尝试利用违约成本的变化引入金融冲击,从未预期和预期冲击两个视角理解去杠杆背景下中国的宏观经济波动。模型数值模拟结果表明,去杠杆过程前后信贷、杠杆率以及信用利差等重要宏观经济变量的波动不仅源自未预期违约成本的变化。违约成本预期的变化同样也可以很好地解释近年来我国重要宏观经济变量的“扩张—收缩”波动特征,为理解我国去杠杆进程中的宏观经济波动提供了一个新视角。基于本文结果,政府实施去杠杆政策时不仅应充分考虑违约成本的实际变动,还应重视金融机构的预期因素。     

经济增长为什么没有带来就业增加？

20世纪90年代以来,经济增长的就业弹性系数持续下降。为什么高速的经济增长并没有带来就业水平的显著增加？本文构建的带有雇佣成本的就业模型显示：由于雇佣和解雇成本的存在,不同类型的冲击对企业雇佣政策的影响明显不一样。具体而言,持久性的供给冲击可以带来就业水平持久性的变化;暂时性的需求冲击只能带来较小幅度的、暂时性的就业变化。所以经济增长是否能够带来就业增加依赖于推进增长的冲击来源;利用Blanchard—Quah的结构VAR分解数据,文章实证研究了不同类型的冲击对就业的影响。经验研究的结果支持理论模型的基本假说。本文的研究中国经济增长过程的就业弹性持续下降提供了合理解释。     

信贷内生扩张能力、投资外生收益冲击与价格波动——对我国投资与通胀关系的一个新的解释视角

本文从一个新的视角——信贷内生扩张能力和投资外生收益冲击,对我国近些年来的投资与通胀的关系进行了解释。具体分析过程是先建立一个信贷内生扩张约束条件下的厂商长期投资动态最优化模型,并给出一个有关投资外生收益对价格影响的命题。在此基础上,我们以中国为对象,对命题成立的三个条件进行了实证检验,并对其中两个关键条件成立的背后动因进行了分析,且给出了长期增长与政策含义。